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Tuesday, 25 April 2017

So, today – Tuesday 18th April – marks the end of
the Easter holidays and my son returns to pre-school. Although I’ve just
written the date, I have no real clue what day it is, why I’m sitting at my
laptop and who the characters in my work in progress are.

You see, I think I’m a very lucky person to be able to work
from home. It means a can choose the hours that suit me and I can work around
my son’s part-time school rota. However, the downside to that is, I’ve found
I’ve just had two weeks off work… two weeks I didn’t actually want off, and I’m
feeling extremely guilty.

Before my son finished nursery, I had just hit the half-way
mark with my work in progress. My protagonist, DI Hamilton, was talking to me
and telling me where he wanted the story to go and another influential character
was coming up against some deadly threats. I was in a good place with the
story. I’m usually quite good at getting the work/life balance right and if I
can’t work during the day, I’ll write at night after my son has gone to bed.
However, it seems the Easter holidays have run away with me; busy all day with
various activities and outings and visiting family/friends. So, even by the
evenings, I was shattered to the point where I’ve felt no brain power for
creativity. Having less time to write, I thought it can’t all be bad because
it’ll mean I’ll get loads of reading done, which can sometimes be just as
useful. Sadly no, I managed to finish only one book, and the other one I
started last week, I’ve only reached 30%.

On a positive note, I did spend one whole day writing. I
managed to get just under 5,000 words written in those few hours. Now, none of
it has been edited, so I’m hoping it reads as well as I think I’ve written it. Plus,
I’ve made notes galore – in notebooks, as well as on my phone – that I can comb
through now I’m back to “normal” and make the necessary changes that have come
to mind mid-mini golf or feeding at the farm. There is also another positivity
that’s come from the Easter holidays – the break freed my mind and actually
gave me some space from my work in progress. It meant I had the chance to think
of other story ideas I’ve been wanting to focus on, and I now have the foundations
for my first standalone book, which I’ll concentrate on next year. It’s been
something I’ve wanted to start for a while, but only had the smallest niggle of
an idea – well, I now have the premise of the story and the protagonist is
clear in my mind.

The school holidays can be a difficult time to get theright work/life balance

So, while I still feel guilty for not getting my usual
1,000-1,500 words a day written throughout the Easter holidays, perhaps I need
to think more long term. The unwanted break I’ve just had from writing might well
have been exactly what I needed to grow the idea of a future book.